Rajiv Jalim, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
As unusually heavy rainfall battered Trinidad's east
coast a year ago, a lagoon here was overwhelmed, flooding a major access road
to the island’s south-eastern communities. As the flood waters poured over
Manzanilla beach, they washed sand away, caved in sections of road and
collapsed a seawall at a tourist beach facility. Further damages were also
incurred with the flooding of homes and agricultural plots.
The coastline of Trinidad is under threat as seas
rise, storms grow heavier, and as sand is washed away. As iconic coconut trees
are lapped by an encroaching sea, some of the dangers of climate change are
becoming clear.
Seas in the region have been rising by more than 2
millimeters every year — though scientists are still trying to pinpoint the
role of climate change in accelerating local beach erosion.
“On Manzanilla beach the sea is definitely getting
closer to the land, but the primary reason may not be land deformation or sea
level rise,” said Keith Miller, a senior lecturer and researcher at the
University of West Indies.
“The Atlantic swell causes long-shore drift and beach
sediments move southward,” Miller said. “Research has been done to suggest that
the sediment source has dried up to some extent, so material is being moved
along the beach, but there is less material available to replace it.”
In addition to the problems on the east coast,
Trinidad’s south-western peninsula is experiencing rapid erosion. Despite being
sheltered from the open ocean, satellite images have shown large portions of it
being lost to the Gulf of Paria.
According to the World Bank publication Turn
Down the Heat, Earth is locked into at least a 1.5°C rise in
temperature compared with pre-industrial times. Rising seas caused by rising
temperatures, coupled with projected increases in the intensity and frequency
of storms and hurricanes, which also affect wave energy, are expected to
accelerate coastal erosion. Such effects are of grave concern for small island
developing states (SIDS).
With Trinidad’s east coast sustaining several
developing communities, through income from tourism, agriculture and fishing,
management of the coastline — which is also a nesting site for endangered leather-back turtles — is of utmost importance.
Subsequent to reports of the extensive damage at
Manzanilla, emergency services responded through a coordinated effort between
government agencies and ministries to bring relief to those affected.
Disaster management and response units, including the
local Risk Reduction Management Centre, assisted residents by providing basic
supplies to flood victims, while personnel from the University of the West
Indies conducted site visits to assess the damage and collect data. The
Ministry of Works was involved in trying to reconnect the main access route to
the south-eastern community.
At an estimated cost of US$5.8 million, the
rehabilitation work combined the expertise of academics and researchers with
coastal management organizations and engineering firms, both local and
international.
One year later, key learning's are still being
generated from data collected after the event. It is from these analyses that
gaps in the coastal management plans and developmental strategies for the east
coast can be identified.
Perhaps the most significant gap has been the lack of
sufficient hydrological and maritime data for the island, which could be used
to develop models and improve the predictive power for rare disasters.
Extraordinary events such as the Manzanilla flood
occur infrequently, but they can cause significant and expensive damage when
they do occur. Predicting and preparing for such events based on scientific
knowledge can reduce not only their impacts, but also the recovery time.
Looking beyond Trinidad to the wider Caribbean region,
and to other islands across the world, coastal erosion linked to climate change
can be extremely dangerous.
Experts say long-term strategies should go beyond
revetment and seawall repairs, and consider policy support, planning strategies
and contingency mapping. Additionally, there is a need for increased
public-private partnerships across the globe, where resources, creativity,
expertise and innovation can be expanded and exchanged to deal with coastal
management in a sustainable manner.
"I'm more on the side of investing in
state-of-the-art, long-term monitoring and innovative research,” said
Christopher Daly, lecturer in the Civil & Environmental Engineering department
of the University of the West Indies.
“There is no real profit to be made from this so it's
difficult to get private investment,” Daly said. “This has to be funded through
a national or regional science board that has the long-term interest of society
at heart. It also has to have full government support but be independent of
political influence."
Developed countries have pledged to begin providing
$100 billion a year through the United Nations to help developing countries
slow and adapt to climate change by 2020. During climate negotiations in Paris
later this year, developing countries will ask wealthier ones to produce a
roadmap for raising and providing those funds.
SIDS have also been calling during the United Nations
climate negotiations for a “loss-and-damage mechanism,” which could help poorer
countries cope with flooding and other impacts of climate change. The concept
was first proposed more than two decades ago, but the wealthier countries that
would be expected to provide the funding have opposed it.
In the meantime, the hastily built seawall, boardwalk
and main road on the Manzanilla beach will again have to stand the test of the
Atlantic and the effects of climate change. Only time will tell if feats of
engineering can withstand the changing environment, or if the island of
Trinidad will be left to slowly erode into rising seas.
This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP
storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to John Upton
and @ClimateCentral.
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